This invention relates to examination tables for supporting patients during medical examinations and, more particularly, to an examination table having a simple, reliable, inexpensive height-adjusting mechanism for raising and lowering the table and means for positioning a portion of an articulated patient support cushion.
Conventional medical examination tables especially adapted for use by physicians in offices and clinics to support patients during various types of medical examinations are typically either fixed-height or adjustable-height type tables. Adjustable height examination tables are desirable because various types of medical examinations are most expeditiously carried out at different heights. Prior adjustable tables have used different apparatuses for raising and lowering the tables with respect to a support surface.
One particular prior known height-adjusting mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,34,951 issued Aug. 8, 1967, to Douglass, Jr., et al., entitled EXAMINING TABLES. Disclosed therein is an electric motor rotating a vertically positioned screw shaft. An elevating arm is mounted on the screw shaft and connected to the table frame via a threaded nut. Rotation of the shaft raises and lowers the nut, the elevating arm, and table.
Another prior known height-adjusting mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,893, issued Oct. 24, 1967, to Katzfey et al., entitled PHYSICIAN'S EXAMINING TABLE. Included are four parallel lever arms pivotally connected between a pedestal base and the underframework of the supported table. A fluid cylinder is connected to the structure to pivot the upper table portion about the lever arms in a vertically swinging arc to raise and lower the table.
Although these specific tables and other examining tables including height adjustment mechanisms function adequately, they are extremely expensive to manufacture and maintain due to the complexity and number of necessary parts. Moreover, certain of the prior structures include exposed operating mechanisms which could cause injury. Access to the operating mechanisms for maintenance or repair is typically difficult and time consuming. Also, in many tables, valuable storage space within the cabinet storage areas is taken up by the necessary bulk of the operating mechanism.
Many prior examination table structures have also included a patient support cushion which is articulated to support the patient in various positions for examination. Control of mechanisms for positioning the cushions has typically been obtained from a single control area on the table. When this control area is on one or the other side of the table and the examining physician or other medical personnel wish to raise or lower the cushion section, it has been extremely inconvenient to move to the single control area to change the position of the patient support.